The path least traveled
by A Writers Creed
Summary: One small change and one choice encounter early in Naruto's life, leads him down a new path…the path of a Jinchūriki. With new friends and the cunning of a fox, anything is possible! Strong and Smart Naruto, but not Godlike, Eventual NarutoxFu
1. Chapter 1 Split in the Road

Most people follow the path most travelled…they listen to their teachers, their parents…they do what people expect them to do…but this is the story of the Naruto that went off the road and into the woods…this is the story of the Naruto that walked the path of the fox.

To put it simply…Naruto Uzumaki was not having a good day, kicking the dirt as he walked down the road he mumbled, "Damn shopkeeper, all I wanted was some milk! He didn't have to charge me twice as much as anyone else. If this keeps up I won't be able to eat any ramen toda-" he froze half way through a step and his shoulders hunched even more.

"What can I do, it's not like I have anyone to spend it with, Gramps is busy ALL THE TIME, being the Hokage. He's even on a…what did he call it? Oh ya! A diplomatic mission to…some somewhere?" Naruto suddenly stopped and yelled out, "that's why he should give me the hat! I would be way better at it anyway! No diplomatic mission. If they want to talk, they come to me!"

Saying this out loud seemed to help his mood, and with his spirits back Naruto continued to walk down the path leading home. "At least its Friday, which means two days to do anything I want!" he instantly gained a foxy grin, "well then, I guess it's time to plan my next big prank! Ok, I still have a few stink bombs, and it has been a while since I have gone after the Uchiha's…"

As he approached the curve in the road he paused. "Hmmmm…the road home leads to the park, which could be fun, if anyone actually played with me. Or I can take the short cut straight home through the woods." He paused for a second before he shrugged and shouted out, "short cut it is!" Naruto ducked under a tree branch and started through the woods. What he would never know was that a certain blue haired and fair skinned heiress was being bullied at that park and would never be rescued by a certain blond haired boy. But as they say, when one door closes, another one opens.

He didn't know why, but Naruto had always loved the woods, moving from shadow to shadow, trying as hard as he could not to make a sound…he always felt like a real ninja! Of course, he always had trouble hiding in the dark, with blond hair and blue eyes. He tended to stand out, which was the reason he was wearing a black t shirt with a red Konoha spiral on its chest and dark shorts.

 _"Lucky I found these in such good shape. Stupid Uchiha Clan, throwing out perfectly good clothes! But I always have to be careful around their compound. Most Clans don't like me, but the Uchiha's are the worst!"_ he grumbled to himself as he moved deeper into the woods and his mind started to wonder again.

 _"I thought that the teachers at the Academy wouldn't be as bad as everyone else…but they get so mad at me for the smallest things and it's only been a week! But the worst part is no matter what I do I can't focus! Not even on pranks!"_ he thought to himself until he got a huge grin on his face. _"At least I'm not in the orphanage any more, and what other 8 year old can say they have their own apartment!"_

After a couple of minutes moving through the woods, he heard something to his left. It sounded like people running through the woods, yelling about something. _"Well at least they're not chasing me, which is a plus"_ then they stopped, with nothing but a few tall bushes between them and Naruto. _"Might as well, got nothing better to do"_. Naruto snuck around the bush as quietly as he could and what he saw made him freeze in shock. Three kids were standing in a semi-circle around a tree, all holding large sticks. Between them, cowering on the ground, was a white fox.

 **Kurama**

Deep within Naruto, behind one of the finest seals ever made, sat the most dangerous tailed beast: Kurama the 9 tailed demon fox or as the rest of the world new him, the Kyūbi, and he was stirring. **"What disturbs my sleep?!"** It wasn't like he expected anyone to respond, but being trapped in a seal for years and with nothing better to do when he was awake; he threw his mass against the cage. After all the years of trying, it's not like he expected it to give, but it gave him a way to vent his rage.

 **"I will escape from this cage and on that day, Konoha and the Land of Fire, ALL WILL BURN! But first, I will find the man with the orange mask and red eye, and I will tear him limb from limb! I wi-"** Then he felt it again, something was happening outside the bag of meat he was seal in. Kurama rarely tried to see though his human cage's eyes. It wasn't easy and it was tiring, and it never held his interest for long, but he did manage to look through this pitiful cage's eyes and what he saw, made his blood run cold.

" **How dare they! He is only a CHILD and they beat him with STICKS! I will peel the skin from your hides! I will make you beg for death before I end you th-"** then he felt it: anger, a deep primal rage. However, it was not coming from him, but from his cage. This human…this boy, was angry at them? For hurting one of his kind?

Kurama was not easily surprised, being thousands of years old and seeing the worst this pitiful race could do. But his cage, this…boy was willing to put himself in danger and fight, for a fox? As things stood, this boy would never be able to beat these animals. They looked like they were in there last year at the Academy, so at least four years older than his container. But still better than his container and had weapons, pitiful as they might be, and they had noticed they had an audience.

"Well look what we have here!" said the big one in the middle, "Looks like this is our lucky day! Looks like we can take out another orphan freak!" he started giving his container a smirk as he looked his container in the eye

Kurama knew those eyes…the eyes of someone that draws joy through others' pain and the power he has over others…the worst there race has to offer. **"Hmm, it's Clear to see who's in charge, the other two are only half his size…take out the big one and the other two will run, but there's no way my weak container can beat him. Truly shameful that the container of the great Kurama is so weak! The only way he can get away from this is to run…expect nothing less from a human coward-"**

"Screw you! I'll stop you or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage of Konoha!" yelled his cage.

" ** _Well…did not expect that"_** and by the looks of it neither did the big guy. His eyes went wide for a second…then he got mad, "you know I was JUST going to beat you up and have some fun with this fox…now I think I might make you watch me make new fox hat out of him!"

" **Damn! The seal is so strong, unless his life is in danger I won't be able to force any chakra through! His anger should help but…yes, anger"** Kurama did something that has been said to give anyone weak-willed that sees it nightmares until the end of their days: he grinned **"Well then, let's hope this works!"** instead of mixing his chakra with his container…he added his anger and hate to Naruto's, and directed it at the three kids.

The result was something that usually takes a ninja of at least Chuunin rank to do…Naruto released killing intent.

 **Naruto(a few Seconds ago)**

Naruto was angry…no. That's not a strong enough word, he was furious! He knew everyone in Konoha hated foxes, ever since the Kyūbi attack if anyone saw a fox, they would try to 'get rid of it'. Which always confused Naruto, why kill something that had nothing to do with the Kyūbi? Do you kill all of the dogs when a wolf kills someone? No, it's stupid! But fortunately most of the time the foxes where too quick for the villagers and now most foxes tended to give Konoha a wide birth. But this fox…he could see from here it wasn't doing well. Its white coat was coated with blood and dirt, its eyes were bloodshot and he was shivering with fear. But there was something about his eyes…then he heard the big kid say the words that made it click "another orphan freak!" he was wright…those where not fox eyes looking at him…they were his eye's. Another orphan, another abandoned by the world…and he would NOT leave him to his fate!

"Screw you! I'll stop you or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage of Konoha!"

Ok…that might have not been the smartest thing to say…but he was still too angry and he was still seeing too much red to hear most of what the big kids said, but he did pick out "-make new fox hat out of him!" he saw the other two smirking… SMIRKING! I've been angry before…but this was so much more than just anger…he could almost FEEL it swelling from somewhere deep within him. All three of them will pay for this! "Not if I **KILL YOU FIRST!** "

He could almost feel all the hate leave him as he said it and for a second nothing happened…then the big guy screamed, not a manly yell…but something you would expect from a two year old that saw a big spider…and the other two? They wet themselves and…more.

Then they started running, and I'm not 100% sure what direction they went in, but all I know is that within five seconds…you couldn't even hear them. "Ok, that was weird…didn't think I was that scary, wonder wh- right the fox!"

The fox did not look like it was in good shape, parts of his coat were missing, and he was covered in mud and blood in various states of drying, and his eyes…he was terrified! "Hey buddy…its ok…no one is going to hurt you n- OW!" the fox, intently turned to the out stretched hand and bit down, hard.

Deep within Naruto, the demon fox wondered **_"now will you show your true colors? Like all humans, you will strike back?"_** Naruto reached out **"I knew I put too much faith in you! You are like the rest of your kind! And I wi-"** and he laid his hand on the foxes head and waited "don't worry buddy, I won't hurt you…you don't need to be scared anymore, I'll be your friend" he said softly, wincing in pain. They stayed that way for a while, neither willing to concede. Then very slowly the fox lighted it grip, looked Naruto in the eye one last time, and collapsed. "oh no!" he reached out hurriedly rested his hand on the foxes chest "his heart is beating so fast and he's burning up! I have to get him back to my place!" Naruto pulled of his t shirt and wrapped the fox in it as softly as he could and ran as fast as he could to his place. "Don't worry…I will take care of you no matter what everyone else thinks. I swear I will do everything I can to help you…or my name isn't Naruto Uzumaki!" unknown to Naruto, another fox herd his declaration that day **"we shall see if what you say is true…but I can say you have peaked my interest, I shall keep an eye on you and I look forward to meeting you in person and testing your merit… Naruto Uzumaki."**


	2. Chapter 2 Saving a Fox

Naruto burst through the front door of his apartment. "Well I guess this whole building is my house seeing how no one else lives in it, never understood why no one wants to live near m- more important stuff to do!"

He rushed over to the bed and as gently as he could, put fox down…he didn't look like he was doing that well at all. He ran over to the sink and let the water run and then ran to the fridge. "Good thing I was able to get ah… some chicken yesterday" he tore the cooked chicken in to tiny pieces and put them in a bowl and brought them to the fox.

He ran back to the sink, grabbed a clean cloth and three glasses, one with warm water to clean the wounds, one with cold water for the fox to drink and an empty one to empty out the dirty water from the first one and brought them all to the bed.

"Thank kami I actually listened to Iruka sensei's lesion on emergency first aid last week" and then, Naruto got go work.

At first the fox was tense as Naruto cleaned his wounds, expecting Naruto to start hurting him. But after a while he relaxed and let Naruto help him. The longer Naruto worked, no matter what he did, the fox just seemed to get sicker.

"What happened to you? I can barely find a part of you that isn't hurt and you're skin and bones! At least you're eating and drinking when you can…but your fever isn't going down!"

The sun was already long gone by the time he was done cleaning the wounds, there just so many. Some were new, fresh winds that where still bleeding and some were far older. As Naruto tried to bring his (found out that he was a guy, the awkward way!) temperature down.

"he's still burning up! I've been changing the cloth forever, and it's not getting better! Think Naruto! There's got to be some way to help…a vet won't help him, they won't work on a fox and I don't have the money anyway. If the Old Man was hear he would help, but he won't be back for at least a week! I don't think he can make it a full week…"

Naruto started pacing back and forth before he froze. For a second nothing happened, then he grew a huge grin on his face and jumped up, cheering.

"I got it! The library, they have books on everything in there!"

He cleaned the cloth, put two layers on the fox's chest, one small cloth on his head. He then filled him up on food and water ran out the door only now realising that the sun had long since set.

"They've already closed for the night! and that's if they would even let me in the front door. I… "

He looked back at the small fox in his bed, and he knew if he didn't find some way to help him, the fox wouldn't see the next sun rise. He straightened his shoulders and looked out over Konoha; he knew the library was only two blocks away and was this fox's only chance. "Well I guess it's time to break into a ninja library, guarded by ninjas, to treat the most hated types of animal in Konoha…another fun day"

Naruto was having a pretty easy time avoiding the police on the way there, and was even able to set a distraction in motion to get the guards away.

"It kind of makes me sound bad…but I have gotten a lot of practise escaping and avoiding the Konoha Military Police Force. But it's not my fault they can't take a few good natured pranks! Haaa that reminds me of one of my crowning achievements! It turns out that the base of operations for the Military Police has the water storage for their Water Drinking Fountains on the roof…with no one watching it! Add a little something that causes constipation in there water…no one in the Military Police pooed for 3 days…then add a laxative into the mix annnd…good times!"

His face again gained the foxy grin that everyone in the Military Police fears. He was set up beside the side door of the library. Now all he was waiting for now was his distraction to start and the Military Police officer that was put hear to go and help. Any second now…

Then he herd it…the barking and screaming of a certain Fire Daimyō's wife.

"You think they would put better security on the Fire Daimyō's house, the back servant door is almost always unlocked! And even if it is locked, be key is under a brick. The dogs weren't that hard either, the Inuzuka Clan dogs are very well trained ya, but they have one weakness which will drive them crazy until they get there paws on it…rotting fish. I don't get it either but they go crazy for the stuff! All I had to do was drag it to the Fire Daimyō's house and put it in the middle of the house! The doges get out of their cages…I have no idea how, but they do! And Mother Nature takes care of the rest. Now all that has to happen is the call for backup and…"

He saw the flicker of movement above his head, then the side door opened and a guard bolted towards the chaos.

"It's not like they will wake up an Inuzuka before they want to…unless you have a suicide wish! There are some dangerus clans in Konoha, but nothing as bad as an Inuzuka that was woken up early. "

Before the door closed and locked, Naruto managed to slip his foot into the door, holding it open. But before running in, he balanced a small bell on the handle.

"Better safe than sorry."

As Naruto turned around, he saw to hallways, to the left was the man area of the library, with all of the basic ninja books...and to the left was the restricted section.

"that's why I set up this plan in the beginning… so I could get some bad ass new jutsu!"Naruto paused for a fraction of a second until he turned left.

"I said I would help you and Naruto Uzumaki keeps his word!" He said to himself as he hurried into the main section of the Library. As Naruto pulled his backpack off, all he thought was "I'll just grab the important ones, there can't be that many books…"

His eyes went wide when he realized how many books were actually in the main section of the library.

"got to narrow it down, at least they have sections. Not Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, infiltration, medical, history- there's the medical section...This section is huge! Larger than my apartment! I only have a couple of minutes left before they come back! There's no way I can narrow it down enough… there has to be something…"

Panicking, he turned toward the main door and saw a small section right next to the wall with 'intro' written above it. He instantly gained a huge smile.

"Ok…M for Medicine" Naruto quickly found the only book in M, wss Medical Ninjutsu.

"not it! I haven't even stated any Ninjutsu's at school! Must be the wrong word…what would Gramps say…"

Naruto racked his brain…if he didn't hurry the guards would get back, he knew he had minutes at best, it would have been even worse but most of them were getting a training update.

"Shame more of them weren't on the field op that most of them left on…THAT'S IT!"

He turned and found the F section. Then, he heard the worst sound ever…a bell.

"DAMN, out of time!"

He could hear two people running toward the restricted section in the distance, but this would be there next stop. Naruto franticly turned around, there were only two books that started with F, so he grabbed both of them and shoved them in his backpack and made a break for the front door.

"Hey you, FREEZE!"

To put it simply, Naruto did not. Fortunately, he could only hear one set of feet making chase. In fact he pulled out two different pellets and a bag of marbles. One he tossed slightly behind him, the other he threw at his feet. Then he emptied the bag of marbles as he ran out the door. He was almost at the alley across the street when he heard it.

"Smoke boom won't stop me ki-Ah! What is th-, WAAA!" THUD.

Naruto couldn't help but grin, the first pellet was just a smoke screen to stop line of sight, but the second one was tear gas…and with marbles underneath. You can probably guess what happened.

For the first time Naruto tried not to get tailed, he always had fun with the chase, but if they found out it was him of followed him to his house and found the hurt fox…an infection would be the least of his issues. So he took his time, moving from shadow to shadow, using every hiding spot he knew as he moved towards his house. Naruto knew they were looking for him now, he could overhear them as they moved by their hiding spots, it took longer than he thought it would, but he made it home and slipped in the front door.

The fox didn't look to good, he quickly changed the damp cloths out with new ones.

"they're so hot! That can't be good!"

Naruto emptied his backpack on the ground, pulling out the two books he 'borrowed'.

"let's see what I have, 'Fūinjutsu Basics' no 'Field Medicine', that's it!"

He flipped through it quickly and found the section on infections and treating them.

"Let's see, a mild infection can be treated by…"

He took one look at the fox, shook his head and scroll down.

"very few things can treat a serious infection…great, but the leaves of the Silverleaf ground into a paste and mixed with water and drunken can treat even the worst infections! Yes! Silverleaf is a rare flowering plant found in temperate forests and must be fresh for it to work..."

Naruto stopped reading out loud and looked at the fox. He lived in the middle of a village, and the only flower store that would sell to him was on the other side of the village.

"there's no way I can get to the store in time… and that's if they even have it!"

He couldn't believe it. He just met him and he was already letting his friend down. Tears started running down his face as he threw the book across the room.

"THIS BOOK IS USELESS! After everything I did to get this book! It can't even help me! Kami must be tormenting me! Look, there's even a picture to taunt me with! It even looks exactly like one of my plants…what" Naruto ran over to his windowsill and just sitting there amongst his plants, was a Silverleaf.

"At this point I don't know if Kami loves or hates me"

Was all Naruto was thinking as he ground a few of the leaves in a ramen bowl with a spoon, adding just a bit of water when it became a paste, just enough to drink. After he got the consistency right he turned to the fox. He took one sniff of the medicine and turned away with a look of utter disgust on his face.

"I know buddy. I hate medicine too, but this will help" Naruto looked the fox in the eye and held it out for him again. "You have to drink it".

The fox looked Naruto in the eye, almost like he was looking for some reason not to trust him or for some sign he was misleading him. He then looked at the green drink, with another look of disgust on his face, he started to drink.

Naruto had no idea how much time passed, but he kept feeding the fox silverleaf. From time to time he would give him bits of chicken. It just seemed like the fever would never stop, but at the same time, neither would Naruto.

The fox would never sleep for more than an hour, and when he was sleeping it would never be well. Even when he did wake up, all he did was eat, drink or take some more Silverleaf before he passed out again. Then, all of a sudden, his fever broke.

All of a siden, the fox's eyes were clear and for what seemed like the first time he looked at Naruto with completely clear eyes and what Naruto saw brought him to tears…love, not the love of a mom and dad or the love of a child for his parents, but the love of someone you can trust no matter what, brothers in everything but blood.

The fox then closed his eyes and went into a peaceful sleep for the 1st time that night. Naruto, suddenly realizing how long of a night it has been for him, lay down next to the fox, gently petting him. "Never thought my first friend would be a fox, but I guess it makes sense, us loners got to stick together" he said with a soft smile. "You do have a beautiful coat, pure white" he said as he closed his eyes. "Then I'll call you…Mashiro, friend" unknown to Naruto, two foxes herd what he said, and both smiled.


	3. Chapter 3 Getting to know Mashiro

Getting to know Mashiro

Thank you everyone that has been reviewing!

I'm so sorry about the delay, trying to find someone to help with my grammar and work has been crazy, but I am sorry nun the less.

On future note, love the reviews, but if you could be more specific, instead of "Your grammar needs work" I would greatly appreciate it. :)

* * *

Naruto slowly woke up, he felt exhausted. "Strange dream" he mumbled to himself.

"What was with that gate? It was huge! And why would you need a gate that big in sewers? Anyway, and why is the sun so high? Did I really go to bed that late…"

Then what he did last night rushed back to him "Mashiro!" Naruto bolted up and did a quick scan of the room, and what he saw made his blood run cold, the window was open.

"nonononono, how could I be so stupid!"

He said as he stumbled over to his table and put his hands on his face as he sat down.

"He must have left some time in the night, I guess he wasn't my friend…"

Naruto felt something wet touch his hand which was holding his head up.

"WHAAAAA!" Naruto yelled as he shot back so hard he knocked the chair he was sitting on over and with a CRASH he landed on the floor, still sitting in his chair. He looked between his legs and siting on his chair, was a very smug looking white fox.

"Mashiro, you stayed! You didn't leave me!" Naruto stood up as fast as he could for someone in his position could and looked at Mashiro, who actually looked great for a fox that was on deaths door a few hours ago.

"Well you look like you're doing well! I guess I'll heat you up some chicken so you have something to eat!"

Naruto turned to where he left the chicken last night and saw what looked like the last few pieces of gnawed on bone. He slowly turned back to the VERY smug looking fox that was in the process of licking his paws.

 _"Well he looks way to proud of himself, and how did he eat a full chicken! I would have trouble eating that much if I was his size!"_

Naruto sighed and walked over to his cupboard and grabbed the one true food of the gods, ramen! As he started heating the water for the ramen he kept an eye on Mashiro.

 _"He's so relaxed; I thought he would be way more nervous around humans. After what he's been through, he's only keeping half an eye on me, but does he already trust me that much?"_

As Naruto poured his boiling water on his instant ramen and set it on the table across from where Mashiro was sitting. With Naruto now within arm's reach of Mashiro, the fox was now watching him intently. Naruto paused for a second when he finished of his first bowl of ramen and looked at Mashiro.

" _Does he already trust me this much? Well hope he doesn't bite me this time."_

Naruto started to reach out towards Mashiro, who stood up and looked at Naruto's hand. When Naruto's hand was a foot away he stopped and just held it there, closing his eyes and waiting for Moshiro's next move.

For what felt like eternity, nothing happened…then something touched his hand. He thought he would feel Mashiro bite him again, but all he felt was something soft against his hand and slowly, he opened his eyes.

Mashiro was gently rubbing his head against Naruto's hand; he had no more of the tension that was there a few seconds ago. Mashiro paused for a second then started to lick his hand gently.

 _"It almost feels like a small dogs…"_ was all Naruto could think to himself.

Slowly Naruto moved his hand over Mashiro's head and started to pet him. _"He's so soft…silk should be jealous"_ Naruto thought with a smile as he continued petting him.

Mashiro really seemed to enjoy the attention as he rubbed his head into Naruto's arm. While petting him Naruto looked around the room and noticed that above the fridge was a small pile of his clothes, it looked like Mashiro made himself a bed. When he realized what that meant, it brought a huge smile to his face.

 _"Moshiro's here to stay."_ Was all Naruto could think to himself, and for the first time Naruto could remember, he wasn't completely alone.

"Well looks like we might as well introduce our selves. Moshiro, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and this." He said as he waved his arm in an ark at his room "is OUR house." He said with a fox's grin plastered on his face.

* * *

In the shadows, a lone figure was hiding in his target's room. in front of him he saw Naruto Uzumaki petting a fox he had apparently named Moshiro,

 _"I did not expect something like this to happen, I must tell him about this as soon as I can…there is no telling what this could mean."_

Suddenly one of the foxes ears twitched and he looked at the area he was hiding in, like he was looking for something.

 _"That fox has scary good senses, I'll have to find a better spot if I don't want to be caught, but one thing's for sure, this was not the relaxing shift I was promised, and on top of all that, it looks like we were lied to."_

He thought to himself as he bled into the shadows.

 _"Someone will pay for that."_

* * *

Naruto and Moshiro spent most of the day relaxing and getting to know each other, but every once in a while they would play a little game. The only way to describe the game would be a strange game of tag, where Naruto would try to catch the fox. But one thing was painfully obvious; Naruto was not good at this game.

"How are you so fast!?"

Was all Naruto could say as he tried to catch what must have been the quickest fox in existence.

"How is he moving so quickly? Half the time he moves before I do! And every time I don't touch him he bites me! The BEST I can do is graze him with my hand, and that's IF I get lucky!"

But as the day moved on, Naruto was starting to get the hang of it.

 _"Almost got him that time! Just got to watch which way he moves before he jumps off…did he just bounce off the wall?! Okay, it's on!"_

Every time Naruto was getting better at keeping up with Moshiro, he would step up his game. By the final round they were bouncing of the walls in this crazy dance. As the sun was about to set, Naruto caught his chance, Moshiro moved right where he wanted him to, right in front of the table. As Naruto dove for Moshiro he smirked and yelled

"Yes! I got you- AAAH!"

Naruto did catch the fox, but also took out the table in the process. As they lay in a heap on the ground, Naruto saw Moshiro looking up at him, with a happy glint in his eyes.

"I did it…"

He stood up slowly as a huge fox grin spread across his face,

"I did it I caught the great fox ninja!"

He yelled as he ran around his small room, too happy to care about anything else. After a few laps he set Moshiro on the table and ran to his drawers and threw them open.

"This deserves a celebration…ramen!"

He said as he hurriedly got the instant food of the gods ready.

After a few minutes Naruto brought two still steaming bowls of instant ramen to the table, one full bowl for him and one half filled one for Moshiro.

"All right, let's eat!"

Naruto said as he brought the bowl of ramen to his lips, as he did he looked across the table to Moshiro, who did not look impressed.

"What? You're smaller, so you get less ramen!"

He brought the bowl up again, paused for a second, and then put it down again.

"Look, my food my rules, this stuff is expensive and I did catch you…and this is MY celebration…"

Naruto said to Moshiro, neither breaking eye contact. This lasted for what felt like an eternity, until finally Naruto stood up.

"Fine you dam fox! If I have another one we will make it even, but ONLY if I have another one!"

"Dam fox is going to eat me out of house and home" Naruto mumbled to himself as he opened one of the drawers.

"See, no more ramen…or any food, see no more ramen for you-" he said as he turned back to the table and froze. Moshiro was sitting on the table with two very empty bowls of ramen in front of him and a huge grin on his face.

On that fateful night everyone in Konoha heard words full of such grief and sorrow. Dogs howled, children cried and a cook and his daughter wept for that poor fool, for those words where "NOOOO! NOT THE RAMEN!"

* * *

Naruto woke up in a bad mood, not only was he out of food, but someone stole the last of his emergency ramen! Not only that, but that person was sleeping on his chest.

"Well good morning to you to." Naruto grumbled as he looked down on Moshiro who was looking back with pleading eyes.

"Don't give me that look, you're not the one that had the best food in existence stolen from right under your nose, and it's not like you could get me more"

He mumbled as he broke eye contact and looked out his open window at the rising sun. He felt the weight in his chest disappear and the sound of something jumping on his kitchen table, and then he felt a pair of eyes boring into the back of his head. After a few moments Naruto sat up and turned towards the table.

"OK, what is it! You won't make me forgive you so quickly…"

Siting on the table was a pile of instant ramen packs. Naruto stood up and walked to the table he whispered,

"How did you get all of this? It must have taken you all night!"

He then took a closer look at Moshiro, he looked exhausted. He was barely able to stand and was looking at him with hopeful eyes. With a sigh, Naruto walked over and started petting Moshiro, "you didn't have to do this much…" Naruto said with a smile "go to sleep buddy just... please don't eat all the food again".

Moshiro promptly ran to his bed and was asleep before his head hit the bed. Shaking his head Naruto started to look around his room.

"well I can't go shopping, the only stores open on a Sunday won't sell me anything…"

As his eyes scanned the room he saw something in the corner beside his bed. Some first aid supplies and two books, one already open and left there after Moshiro had started to recover.

"right those! I almost forgot about my haul from the library!"

Naruto said as he rushed to them.

"Let's see… "Fūinjutsu basis"…what the heck is that? Never heard of it, must be some super cool hidden technique!"

Naruto said as he opened the book and started reading.

"OOK…let's see…bla bla bla, very dangerous… bla bla not for the faint of heart… aaaaand here we got, the good stuff!"

A couple of minutes later Naruto scratched his head.

"OK, so this is some kind of sealing art? You either put something in, or "unseal" to get it back out? Looks like you can basically seal anything. Doesn't sound too hard…but most of the later pages are blank; except for "too far for a beginner like you" What is wrong with this writer!"

As he turned the book over and looked at the back, what he saw was a little strange, where the writers name should be, was covered with black ink and "PERVERT" written above it. After pausing for a second, Naruto had a huge grin on his face,

"Well I guess I'll call you perv sensei then!"

* * *

Unbeknownst to Naruto, several nations away, hiding in a tree above a hot spring, a certain white haired pervert felt a shiver run up spine

"I feel a great disturbance in the perv force, as if someone saw me as nothing more than a simple pervert…I am no simple pervert."

He whispered to himself before proudly yelling out, "For I am a super pervert!"

Then he heard the women in the bath go quiet, before one of them held out.

"HE'S IN THE TREE!"

Knowing he's been found out, the white haired man made a mad break for the wall and freedom.

 _"Just got to break line of sight and hide, should be able to ex-"_

His thoughts where instantly cut of when we ran into ninja wire and pulled to the ground. He then remembered one very important reason why he went to this hot spring in particular. It was for female ninja only, commonly known as, Kunoichi. Sure it was riskier, but they tended to have better… "assets". One of the more particularly well-endowed Kunoichi, who reminded him of someone he knew very well, screamed out.

"Alright girls, let's make this pervert WISH he had never been born a boy!"

As the throng of angry ninjas descended upon him, he had an epiphany…that this was not going to be fun.

* * *

"All right…if you use this array it should…oh, hey Moshiro that was a short nap."Naruto said as the fox came into view.

"So what do you want to do for the rest of the day? Hey…when did it get so cloudy out?"

As Naruto looked out at the setting sun he realized that he had spent the whole day… reading. After pausing at the window a few more seconds letting that fact sink in he looked back at Moshiro and mumbled.

"Dam you for making me like books, last week this never would have happened, not in a million years."

Moshiro looked as innocent as ever, but if you looked at them just right, his eyes did hold a soft twinkle.

"Ok, so you can't follow me or go outside, you have all the food and water you need wright hear so no madder what you do STAY IN SIDE." Naruto said as he tried to convince Moshiro not to follow him to school. Which apparently was easier said than done, and with the look Moshiro was giving him was any indication, he was not convinced. After a few seconds of just glaring at each other, Naruto sighed, shook his head and said.

"Look, if you're good we'll go hiking in the woods."

That got a reaction, instantly Moshiro perked up and started prancing around the room before jumping at Naruto and licking his face. As he tried to stay on his feet as he burst out laughing, he still managed to giggle out,

"I'll take that as a yes."

Naruto had a feeling this was going to be a great week.

* * *

Several days later, in a hidden base somewhere in Konoha a ninja was kneeling in front of a man shrouded in darkness. The man who sat in the chair that was behind him said

"You better have a good reason for demanding this meeting be secret, it has been a long couple of days."

The figure kneeling on the floor nodded and calmly said

"the only reason I asked for this meeting to be private was that it has to do with my target, Naruto Uzumaki. Much has changed and things are not as we thought they were, we have been lied to."

The figure in the shadows leaned forward and, in a voice that almost made the ninja shiver said.

"if that's true, someone will pay for this."

* * *

Who is the man in the shadows?

and whats next for our two whiskered friends?

find out next time.

any questions or comments, leave a review :)


	4. Chapter 4 Strange Week

To put it simply, Naruto had had the best, strangest week of his life, all thanks to his best friend. Who was currently a few feet in front of him leading him through the woods.

"Hard to imagine that last Friday I didn't even now you…"

As they moved through the woods all he could think about was how much everything has changed, like the first day back to school…

* * *

On his first day back, Naruto was immediately reminded that he always had hated school, and the fact he had to leave Moshiro at home only made it worse. He never had any idea why he found it so hard at school, but every time he went to class, he just found it so hard to focus! Like all his mind could do was wander. So like always, Naruto was sitting at the back of the class in the same chair he always does, trying not to draw attention to himself. But instead of napping, like he usually does, he decided to read the Fūinjutsu book, which was way more interesting then class anyway.

"What? It was NOT this hard at home…what's going on?"

Then all of a sudden he felt something…strange, like a warmth in his stomach spreading through his body then pulsing into his chair. Then as quickly as it came, it ended and he could almost feel a fog lift from his mind.

"What was that…what, what's that burning smell?"

He looked down and saw smoke leaking out from under his chair.

"AAAAA!"

Naruto yelled out as he fell of his chair and kicked it away from him, falling to the side.

"What did you do this time brat! Trying to start a fire now?"

Was all Naruto could hear as Daikoku marched up to him.

"No I swear, it wasn't me! All of a sudden the chair just…is that a-"

Before he could finish Daikoku yelled out "all right, everyone, early recess while I fix this… problem's mess."

For once the class wasn't that mad at Naruto, since early recess is still a win, but all he could think as he walked out of class was, _"Was that a seal under my chair?"_

With an early recess, it gave all the kids in his class a ton of time to hang with their friends. Most recess he would just go to the swing, but today he wanted to do a very un-Naruto thing…he wanted to READ. Kami, what's gotten into me?

So as everyone grouped up, Naruto headed to the shaded area at the corner of the field, a great place to be left alone and where the bigger kids in the class wouldn't find him. After sitting down, he pull out what was now one of his most prized possessions, not that he would tell anyone, and picked up where he left of in the Fūinjutsu book.

"Why was this so hard to do in class? This is a lot easier…and that thing under my chair looked a lot like a seal, what's up with that?"

As Naruto continued to read he thought he heard something moving through the bushes in front of him. After pausing and looking up, he felt himself being filed with dread. Standing not three feet from him was a very familiar white fox.

"Moshiro, what are you doing here!? You can't stay! If someone sees you they might…"

Naruto whispered as he rushed over to Moshiro to pick him up. Just as he got him in his arms, he heard something that made him freeze in place, "troublesome".

As Naruto turned toward the person that found him he tried to hide Moshiro behind his back as well as he could. Standing in front of him was one of the kids in his class. He had his spiky black hair in a ponytail on the back of his head that almost made it look like a pineapple. He had a grey short sleeved shirt on with dark brown pants. Fortunately Naruto recognized him because Daikoku kept yelling at him to stop napping in class, but it never did seem to stick.

"Heeeeey um…Shikamaru right? What you doing back here?" was all Naruto could think to say as he tried to slowly back towards the bushes, trying very hard to keep a squirming Moshiro behind him.

"Ya, I was just relaxing back here, but if you want this spot that's cool, I'll just be going this way…" One of Shikamaru's eyebrows inched up his forehead

"I now I'm going to regret asking this…but what do you have squirming behind you? Please tell me it's not Akamaru. Because if it is, I don't think Kiba will like the fact you took his dog."

Naruto was almost at the bushes, just a few more seconds…

"What? No no, it's nothing; I'll just leave you to your thing!"

Just as Naruto was about to reach home free, Moshiro had apparently had enough and leapt out of his hands landing to his side, in perfect view of Shikamaru. For what felt like an eternity, no one moved, then, someone broke the trance, as in Moshiro siting down and looking at both of them.

"Please don't tell anyone! Moshiro didn't do anything! But if they find him they will…" That was the moment Naruto realized what was going to happen to Moshiro if anyone found out about him , he saw what they would do…what Konoha always does with foxes, and they were going to do that to his best friend. So Naruto, being an 8 year old kid, did the only thing that made any sense at that moment. He closed his eyes and started to ball his eyes out.

"P-p-please don't tell anyone…you know what they do to foxes and Moshiro is my best friend…please…"

Naruto was waiting for it, the moment Shikamaru would start yelling…and he would be alone again. But he didn't all he heard was a deep sigh and then the sound of something being put on the ground and…was he setting a game board?

When he opened his eyes he saw that yes, Shikamaru was indeed setting up a board game of some kind, Naruto had never been more confused in his life.

"What are you doing?" was all he could say, now way to confused to cry. Shikamaru sighed and never taking his eyes of the board, started talking.

"Troublesome, here I was wanting a nice relaxing break watching the clouds but there are none, so I decided to play Shogi with Choji, and he forgot to bring a snack. So that means you're going to play a few rounds with me."

For a few seconds the only thing happening was Shikamaru setting the board. All Naruto could think to say was, "…what?"

Shikamaru looked up from his now set board and looked at Moshiro, and then he looked Naruto in the eye.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, your fox… Moshiro was it?"

After Naruto nodded Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, before continuing.

"It's not like he's the Kyūbi or anything, and really, it would just be to troublesome to make a big deal about it, so would you just play a few rounds of Shogi until Choji comes back, and we'll call it even, sound good?"

For a second Naruto didn't know what to do, "not only does he not hate foxes, but he wants to play with me to?"

As Naruto moved to sit in front of Shikamaru he started to smile. When Naruto as sitting on the other side of the board, he started to rub the back of his head.

"Sounds great! I just have one question though…"

As one of Shikamaru's eyebrows started to rise Naruto looked down at the board and mumbled out. "What's Shogi?"

"…troublesome."

* * *

Choji always saw himself as a very relaxed person, always taking everything in stride, but this had him stumped. After having to run out to get his chips, and taking as much time as possible to get back to Shikamaru, because if there was one thing he hated doing when eating was thinking, and Kami, did Shogi make him think. He loved Shikamaru like a brother, but he hated that game. But those thoughts stopped as he headed around the tree and honestly had no idea what to do. Shikamaru was sitting across from one of their classmates…Naruto? Ya, that's it, only at this second he had a white fox napping on his head and honestly, Naruto looked like his head was going to pop off if he thought any harder. Shikamaru didn't seem nearly as districted as Naruto was, and smiled up at him.

"Ah Choji, good to see you could join us, I'm sure you know Naruto, and his friend sleeping on his head is Moshiro."

Naruto, realizing that Choji was there, turned and gave him a week smile.

"Hey Choji…sorry bout stealing your spot, I'll-" before Naruto could move a thought popped into his head.

 _"If Shikamaru plays with Naruto…then I won't have to!"_

Choji raised his free had and waved him back down as he sat down as an observer, crossed his legs and opened his chips. A confused Naruto shot a look at Shikamaru, who sighed

"Choji is one of the least troublesome people I now, don't worry", He said as Choji offered Naruto a chip.

"He's fine with you playing…in fact, I would say he prefers it." He added until he threw a knowing smirk at Choji, before turning back to Naruto "and I am sorry to say but, tsumi."

Was all he said as he ended the game. Naruto's head instantly shot to the board, startling Moshiro awake.

"Dam! Rematch!"

As Shikamaru re set the board, Moshir looked straight at him and jumped of Naruto's head, never breaking eye contact. After sitting down in front of Choji, he stared throwing looks at his chips.

"As if I would give you some…was nice enough to give Naruto one. There's no way you would enjoy it."

He said as he lifted the chips away from the fox, as he was about to take a few more, a blur of movement shot in front of him…and his bag of chips where gone.

Choji slowly turned toward the fox, who was now on his other side. He was sitting there with his tail waving, with his chips bag in his mouth. Choji slowly stood, never breaking eye contact with that dammed fox until he was at his full height glaring down at Moshiro, and for a second all they did was stare at each other. Then Choji opened his mouth and threw gritted teeth growled.

"Give me back my CHIPS!"

Choji started to chase Moshiro around the small clearing, with Naruto and Shikamaru just trying to figure out what to do, at least until Moshiro jumped over the Shogi board. Realizing what was going to happen next, Shikamaru turned towards Choji's charging form and as fast as he was coming all Shikamaru was able to get out was, "not the board!" as Choji charged through it. In the next instant, the air was full of Shogi chips, and all Choji could hear from behind him was Naruto bursting into laughter, and a "troublesome" from Shikamaru.

* * *

Thinking back on it now, Naruto still had a huge smile on his face.

 _"That was a pretty great recess, and they're pretty cool once you get to know them. Every day since then I play Shogi with them and I still can't beat Shikamaru! But at least now he hast to think a bit before he goes, like that weird thing he does with his hands…must be some kind of Jitsu! When I beat him I'll make him tell me!"_

Naruto thought as he fallowed Moshiro, re adjusting his backpack as he went. It was how he got Moshiro around without anyone seeing him and his Fūinjutsu book, which reminded him of something.

 _"I wonder why the chair I sit in every day has that seal under it? None of the others do, and I always find it hard to focus when I sit on them. Well, no one notices when I break the seal. All I have to do is break the circle of the seal. Rookie mistake."_

Naruto gained a huge smile as he thought about it.

 _"Must be some super-secret ninja test! That might explain what happened earlier today…"_

* * *

"-and on that note, class enjoy your weekend and see you all Monday!" Daikoku said as he walked out of the class room, throwing a quick glance to the back of the class where a certain blond haired student and his two new friends where siting.

Shikamaru was flanked by Choji and Naruto, and as he started to pack up he looked over at Naruto's backpack and sighed. "Troublesome. I can't believe you keep bringing your friend to school in you backpack, you know what they will do to both of you if they find him?"

Naruto looked down at his bag, sighed and rubbed his eyes before responding. "You think I don't know that? No matter what I do, he manages to get out if I leave him at my place! At this point I think it's safer just to know where he is all the time rather than risk it that someone will find him on the way to me."

"It is troublesome how every Recess he seems to find his way to you."

"Yeah, well it's not like they do random bag searches, so there's really nothing that could go wrong."

Just as the words left his mouth, an Anbu, a member of the elite special forces of Konoha, walked into the room. The only thing that separated him from any other Anbu was that his mask was panted with the design of a dog on it and that he had white hair. As he scanned the room, even though he could not see his eyes, Naruto could almost feel them stop on him. _"Damn you Kami…"_

The walk up to the Hokage's office was the hardest thing he had ever done… especially with the precious cargo that was in his backpack. _"Don't worry Moshiro, no matter what happens I'll protect you!"_

He probably would have made a break for it to, if the Anbu wasn't leading him there in person.

 _"All he said was 'the Hokage wishes to speak with you', then waited for me to fallow! I didn't even have a chance to let Moshiro make his way home alone!"_

Just before the door to the Hokage's office opened a weird thought popped into his head.

 _"Why does this guy smell familiar?"_

Sitting behind the only desk in the room writing something on a scroll, was one of the most dangerous ninja alive, known to most as 'The God of Shinobi', the Hokage of Konoha, Hiruzen. But Naruto new him by a very different name.

"Hey Gramps!"

Naruto said with a huge grin on his face as he walked over and sat in front of the only chair in front of his desk, putting his backpack between his legs. Finishing his scroll, he rolled it up and smiled kindly down at Naruto.

"How did the talk with the other village go?"

For a second, Hiruzen's smiled turned into a slight frown.

"Not as well as I would have liked, but in the grand scale of things, it could have gone worse."

But almost as quickly as it left, his smile returned, but now with a twinkle in his eyes.

"But enough about me! I've been very busy and I'm sorry it took me so long to talk with you. I hope you're enjoying the academy?"

"It wasn't so great to start with… but I made two friends this week, Shikamaru and Choji. They're a little strange, but fun to hang out with. Shikamaru is even teaching me Shogi! I even got close to beating him a few times, but he keeps doing this weird thing with his hands…says it helps him think, I think it's a Jitsu!"

Hiruzen's eyes opened in shock.

"You almost beat the son of the clan head of the Nara Clan in a game of Shogi?"

"Yeah…so?"

With a shake of is head a smile returned to his face.

"If there is one thing I can say about you Naruto, it's that I never do know what to expect. Take this for example." Hiruzen said as he pointed down at the scroll he was writing on. "This is a complaint from a mother about how her son and his two friends where attacked by a blond haired demon with whiskers in the woods."

For less than a second, and if Naruto didn't know him so well he would have missed it, Gramp's eyes gained a dangerous gleam as he read the word 'Demon', but before he could think on it, he looked up and locked eyes with Naruto.

"Now you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Naruto?"

Naruto could literally feel all the color drain from his face as he tried to think of something smart to say to get out of this and of course, was coming up blank.

"I-I didn't attack them! I was just trying to get them to stop hurting Moshiro! They just ran-."

Realising what he said, he threw his hands over his mouth, and with a knowing smile Hiruzen said.

"And who is Moshiro Naruto?"

Realizing what he said, and where he was and what was between his legs. He looked up at the Hokage…no, Gramps. He always did what he could for Naruto, when the orphanage kicked him out, he got him a house. Whenever there was a problem, he would do what he could and at the end of the day, he trusted him with his life, and he knew what he had to do.

"He's my best friend."

Naruto reached down and opened his backpack. The moment the bag was open there was a blur of movement until a very nervous fox was sitting on his lap, trying to appear as small as possible.

For a second no one moved, and then Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his eyebrows.

"Of course of all of the people in Konoha, it had to be you who would befriend a fox. I swear Naruto, is it your life's mission to make things complicated for me?"

Naruto sheepishly smiled as he pet Moshiro.

"So you're not mad?"

Taking his hand off his eyebrow, his face became very serious.

"Naruto, I am the Hokage of Konoha and look after everyone who lives hear and they are all precious to me. But even so, you have found a way into my heart and I want you to know, you can always come to me and I will do what I can."

As was talking, Moshiro began looking around the room, before finally locking on to the Hokage. Jumping out of Naruto's hands, with one jump he landed on one of the only parts of the desk not covered in paper, now just within arm's reach of Hiruzen, he sat down and stared intently at him, waiting for the Hokage to come to him. Hiruzen slowly extended his arm until his hand was only a foot away, letting Moshiro close the distance. After a few tentative sniffs and looking back at Naruto, he walked up and rubbed his head against Hiruzen's hand.

"So what happens now?" Naruto said from his seat.

Hiruzen looked up while still petting Moshiro. He rubbed his bearded chin with his other hand.

"I have to think on this, but for now I need you to keep him hidden. But come back Sunday, and I will have a plan by then." Taking a quick look at the clock he looked back at Naruto and continued. "I believe I have held you here long enough. Go and enjoy your weekend."

As Moshiro jumped back into his backpack Naruto put it on his back and smiled one of his true and honest smiles. "Thanks Gramps for…helping Moshiro and thanks again for letting me go to the academy!"

As Naruto walked to the door Hiruzen called out.

"That's good; just remember it can be hard work to become a ninja and that you have to focus on the class."

Pausing at the door Naruto turned and with a smile on his face he responded.

"That reminds me! I figured out the secret test!"

Shaking his head with a smile Hiruzen said, "And what secret test are you referring to?"

"Well, the hidden seal under my seat of course!"

Hiruzen's smile vanished, and Naruto could swear the temperature in the room dropped like a stone. He could feel a cold shiver run down his spine.

"What seal are you talking about Naruto?"

"Um…" Naruto mumbled out, now very nervous. "The one under my seat? None of the other seats have it so l figured it was a test for me... but it was making it hard to focus..."

After a second a smile returned to Hiruzen's face, but it still felt cold in the office.

"Good work Naruto, I will make sure to explain it when I see you Sunday. But for now I am sorry and must go as I just remembered I have something I need to do."

Naruto hurried to the park after that with Moshiro still hidden in his bag, still nervous and confused over what just happened.

* * *

 _'That was strange… I must have done the test wrong or something...'_

Naruto thought as he wandered behind Moshiro.

 _'Well at least Hiruzen liked Moshiro! Looks like everything is going to work out-.'_

Then he noticed Moshiro frozen in front of him, shivering in fear. Just ahead of them, hidden in the shadows, was a man. He couldn't make out who he was, but glinting on his forehead in the last light of the day, was a Konoha head guard and a Kunai in his hand.

* * *

What is going to happen now? Find out next time!

Thanks everyone for all of your love it means a lot to me to see all of you following it and sorry about the delay, had a couple of hard spots in this chapter just making sure it flowed and worked with everything else.

Also planning to put a vote on my page: should Sasuke be good in this story, or bad? Having a hard time deciding so was wondering if you guys could give thoughts.

Send me a review about your thoughts or ideas on the story so far, always love to hear from you.


	5. Chapter 5 Bad Teachers

Sorry about how long this took, enjoy!

* * *

Hiruzen always saw himself as a calm person. Being the Hokage for as long as he had meant it was stay in control, or crack under the pressure. But at this moment, he was quivering with rage. Because sitting in front of him on his desk, was a certain student's chair with a complicated seal under it. Despite his limited knowledge of seals he had a vague idea about its purpose, and it sickened him.

"Have you found the one responsible?" Hiruzen said as an Anbu with a dog design on his face appeared in front of his desk.

"Hye, we are holding them in interrogation room 3 and Yamanaka Inoichi is awaiting your arrival before he begins."

"Well best not keep him waiting" he said as he placed the Hokage's hat on his head, eyes glinting dangerously as he left, with the Andu quietly following behind.

At the hidden entrance to the cells Inoichi was waiting patiently, but immediately stood at attention as the Hokage rounded the corner.

"Inoichi, I apologise for the short notice, but it is vital we learn what this person knows" the Hokage said with a nod to one of his more trusted allies.

"I'm happy to help Hokage, what do you need of me?" Inoichi said, nodding in respect.

"I need information quickly and quietly. A more in depth look might be required later but I need information now. Get as much as you can as I preform the interrogation. Tell me everything after, unless it is truly vital" the Hokage replied as they entered the hidden entrance into the sub-basement.

* * *

Deep below the Hokage tower, were interrogation rooms that only a few where aware of, made to hold prisoners in secret, even from fellow Konoha ninja. Almost no one knew of these cells and to find yourself in one was almost a guaranteed death sentence and an unmarked grave.

So Hiruzen was in no way surprised when he walked into the interrogation room and could swear he could feel the fear.

The room was dimly lit with one light hanging from the sealing directly above someone chained to a steal chair. This chair was covered in seals designed and carved by the 4th Hokage himself to hold any ninja. In front of the prisoner was a simple table with one normal chair sitting in front of it, which the Hokage was heading for.

As Hiruzen sat down with Inoichi hiding in the shadows behind him, the Anbu took off the bag covering the prisoners head. Leaning forward and resting his elbows on the desk, the Hokage locked eyes with the person sitting in front of him, speaking in a voice that demanded a response he said, "Suzume, by any chance are you still practising the art of seals?"

Suzume was a thin Kunoichi with oval glasses sitting on her slim nose, with her thin face surrounded by a thick head of curly hair. But due to the angle of the light above her, her eyes where obscured by the glare of her glasses.

"I'm-I'm sorry Lord Hokage, what do you mean seals?"

"Seals, twelve years ago, before the qubi attack and the great toad sage Jiraiya left, he was training a small group of young ninja that he thought had potential in the art, you where one of his most promising at the time." The Hokage said without breaking eye contact. "After this you spent a short time as an active ninja before transferring to become a teacher at the academy, is this correct?"

"Of-of course lord Hokage! But I don't understand what's going on, where am I? Why am I here?" she said, clearly panicked.

"You see Suzume, you where one of the few people that learned how to affect other people's chakra with seals and with your access to the academy you were the only one that could have done this." The Hokage said as he placed a photo of the bottom of a chair with a complex seal on it. "So I am asking you Suzume, why where you trying to cripple the student Naruto Uzumaki?"

As soon as the words left his mouth there was a sudden change in Suzumes posture, her shivering stopped, she raised her head and for the first time in there discussion, she showed her eyes and they showed the Hokage who he was truly talking to.

Her eyes where wild things, full of cold logic and for a fraction of a second, he thought he was looking into the eyes of his greatest failure. The eyes of a snake.

"cripple? No, no, no. I was disabling a threat to Konoha's future. Even an old fool like yourself should have seen it, Naruto is too dangerous and important to leave as he is. Not only does he hold the nine tails, but he is far too clever to be made into a weapon when Konoha needs. So I was merely…limiting his intelligence and his rebellious nature, to make him into the perfect controllable tool for Konoha when we need him." She said as a crazed smile crossed her face, until the cold eyes returned.

"But apparently it was not to be; he found out about my seals, how I have no idea and was breaking them, the foolishness. He then must have told you about them, and to think, it only would have taken a year to do its work, oh well."

At this point it took every ounce of this self-control not to reach across the table and send her to (god of death) himself. But before he could even consider what to do next he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning he saw a panicked Inoichi. But before he could speak he heard a panicked scream and turned back to the now panicking Suzume.

"A Yamanaka! I will not let you dig into my mind and find him!"

Before any of the ninja in the room could so much as blink, Suzume bit the tip of her tongue off and ran it across the roof of her mouth before her mouth opened in an insane grin. As soon as her lips opened they all heard a hiss that through years of combat they all knew too well and as they all moved for cover they had one thought, _"explosive note!"_

Acting on instinct, Hiruzen flipped the table, putting it between Inoichi and himself and the now very explosive Suzume, and not a second to soon.

Even at such short range, Hiruzen barely felt any push on the table, and after a seconds delay lowered the table to see how much damage had been done.

The explosive note must have been very small but it still fulfilled its intended purpose, Suzume's head was little more than a singed stomp.

Turning towards Inoichi, and now the only person in the room with any information, "what did you see."

Still clearing his head from the explosion he hurriedly replied.

"She wasn't working alone, and she sent him after Naruto when the seals where coming back broken, he's supposed to strike today!"

With little less than a nod the Anbu disappeared to collect a search party to find Naruto.

"Who was her partner?"

After taking a second to organize the borrowed memories, he looked the Hokage in the eye and replied…

* * *

"Daikoku sense?" Naruto said, as his teacher stepped out of the shadows.

For a full second, Naruto literally had no idea what was going on, there was his teacher, in the middle of the woods, oh, and there's Mishiro.

Moshiro!

But why is he here, and why does he have a kuni out…

It was then that Naruto looked into his eye's, they weren't angry like he was expecting, or surprised, they were cold and empty.

Naruto could fell a shiver run down his spine as he looked quickly at Moshiro before locking on to Naruto.

"It looks like we were too late, even with our help the fox's corruption got to you. She was right; we got to you to late…such a shame."

At the back of his mind, almost like a whisper that seemed to get him to move, it only said one word.

 **"Run!"**

Two things happened at once, Moshiro and Naruto dove to the Right, just as Daikoku threw his Kunai.

Naruto felt it cut deeply into his left arm.

 _"If I moved a second later…no, not now just RUN!"_

This wasn't the first time Naruto had been chased, sometimes a shop owner would think he had stolen something, and even though they were mostly wrong of course, but even then he was never that scared of them. The worst that ever happened was I got ruffed up a but before the Military Police Force stepped in... Knowing them they waited a bit before they helped.

But this time was completely different. No one was coming to help, and I KNEW that if he caught up with me… I would never make it out of these woods alive.

I could still hear two different groups of feet behind me, one was four small feet directly behind be that could only be Moshiro. But a short distance behind us was a large pair of feat that could only be Daikoku, the man in the process of trying to kill both of them… and he was gaining on them.

 _"Dam it! At this rate we won't even make it half way out before he catches up with us! His legs are just too long… to long? Then how was Moshiro keeping up?"_

Throwing a quick glance back he saw Moshiro dive under a bush, not around it, his small size letting him easily squeeze through.

 _"Small?"_

He threw a quick glance to his right, noticing how he was passing by one of the densest areas of this park, so dense he has a hard time going through it and if he has a hard time… without a second thought he dove into the bush, with Moshiro hot on his tail.

Well he was right, Daikoku couldn't really follow him at any kind of speed through this dense foliage, and by the sounds of it, he might have lost him. But they were nowhere near safe left.

 _"As soon as I leave this area he could be anywhere, and for all I know, he could be sneaking towards us right now! Got to get to the village, but running might just tell him where we are again."_

He looked down at Moshiro, already quietly sneaking to the left before making eye contact and quietly continuing on.

 _"Sneaking it is."_

I have no idea how long we were sneaking through the woods, felt like hours and for all I know it could have been hours. But we played it safe, moving from shadow to shadow, not making a sound.

Then I heard it, one of the sounds you never want to be on the receiving end of, the hiss of an explosive note.

* * *

I don't know how we triggered it, but I do now we were lucky when it comes down to it. The blast blew us apart but a rock was between us and the blast, raining shrapnel chunks of stone everywhere. But I had a bad feeling the blast was never meant to kill us, just make noise.

 _"Haft to get back to cover; he must already be on his way!"_

As I tried to stand pain shot up my left leg, looking down I saw a bit of stone shrapnel sticking out of my thigh.

 _"Shit."_

With Moshiro behind him as encouragement he barely managed to drag himself up when he heard something behind his friend that made a shiver run up his spine. The bushes parted and Daikoku charged out of the woods, kunai in hand.

He made a mad stumbling dash for the bush and he could hear Moshiro behind him, trying to slow there procure down when he heard a sound he never wanted to hear again; Moshiro calling out in pain.

Naruto looked back and what he saw made his blood run cooled. It looked like Daikoku had gotten a lucky kick in, with how fast Moshiro was it was the only way he could think of that it would happen. But the worse thing was that Daikoku was turning towards Moshiro, and he wasn't getting up fast enough.

For a second, time stopped. He knew he could make it to the bushes again, he knew he could loss him in there, but he would have to leave Moshiro hear, with him…

 _"No."_

 _"He would never abandon his friend, not now not ever."_

 _"NO."_

 _"Never again, he would never be alone again, and he would never… never leave his best friend alone!"_

"NOOOO!"

He screamed out as he pulled the shard of stone out of his leg, he barley even felt it.

By the look of surprise on Daikoku's face, he was not expecting that and he shore as heck was not expecting Naruto to charge right at him.

Everything seemed to slow down as he moved in, after dodging under the wild haymaker he threw his entire wait behind the shard of stone as he shoved it into his teacher's side. He heard Daikoku howl in pain as something hit him in the chest, hard. Sending him skidding across the clearing, he still by some Miracle ended up on his feet when he had stopped moving.

What he saw confused him, why did they both looked so shocked and where is Daikoku's Kunai?

And why where they starting at his chest like that?

After looking down he found out where the Kunai was, almost up to its hilt in his chest.

 _"Well that's not good."_

He could feel his legs give out under him as he fell backwards. As his vision started to fade he had one last thought before the darkness consumed him.

 _"At least Moshiro was safe…"_

* * *

Du Du DUUU!

Got to love those cliff-hangers.

Again, i'm sorry guys, just school and my own laziness led to it not coming out sooner. I figured if I was going to make you guys wait it might as well be a nice and long chapter.

Hope this answered a lot of questions, and a lot more will be cleared up next chapter

Live the response and appreciate any suggestions and input you guys have.

found some errors that needed correcting, thank you for pointing them out, will try to be more consistent in the future.


	6. Chapter 6 The Other Fox

so this is a short one, but tomorrow will be the next chapter which will finish the ark, and that's a big one!

* * *

 _"Cold, so cold…_

 _Is this what death is like?_

 _You get cold and have a wet back and…_

 _Why is my back wet?"_

Opening his eye's Naruto was not where he expected to be, in some kind of… huge sewer?

 _"what?"_

Siting up and looking down he saw that he was fine, no stab wound or anything. It was only that he was in water half way up his thigh.

Standing up and shaking some of the water off of himself, he looked up and confirmed that yes, he was in some kind of sewer. The only weird thing was that the ceiling looked like it was the height of Hokage Rock, the mountain all of the Hokage's faces where on.

"Oh, and the fact I'm in a sewer! How did I get down here and where is…"

Turning around his line of thinking was cut off when he noticed the strangest thing by far in this place, a gate.

Now this was not some gate to keep the foxes out of the chicken pen, this thing was HUGE! It was floor to ceiling, with vertical bars so big three of me couldn't wrap our arms around it, with gaps between them so big I could walk through with my arms spread out!

But maybe even the strangest thing of all was that it looked like the two sides of the gate were being held shut by a small piece of paper half way up that had the symbol for "seal" on it.

"A seal for a lock?"

 **"Quick, aren't you?"**

Deep and powerful, the voice itself sent a shiver running down his spine. The voice seamed to shake the very floor Naruto was walking on, forcing him to stumble back.

 **"You know, it's insulting how weak you are, to lose to a teacher that hasn't trained to fight in years. You couldn't even protect one fox, never mind yourself."**

Still scared but now angrier than anything else, looking around he shouted out,

"Where are you? And stop hiding from me!"

 **"A brave one, aren't you? Let's see how long that lasts."**

Turning back towards the cage, for a second he froze, in absolute terror before his legs gave out under him. Because looking back at him behind the bars where massive red eyes with pupils like Moshiro's that where larger then he was, with a huge grinning mouth full of sharp bone white teeth below them.

Frozen where he was he could only watch as the creature stepped forward. Slowly its shape became clearer until it hit him what he was looking at, a fox.

But this fox was massive! With a head bigger then his entire apartment! It was also completely orange, except for block around his eyes that ran into his ears and behind him where only one tail should be, where 9 waving tails.

"You're…you're…you're"

 **"That's right! I am the mighty nine tailed demon fox! The one you call The Kyuubi!"**

"Bu-bu-but you're dead! The Fourth Hokage killed you!"

 **"Ha! Kill me? One can no more easily destroy the moon then kill me! No, the 4** **th** **did something far worse than that!"**

Getting as close to eye level as possible, filling Naruto's vision with the Kyuubi's massive red, he whispered, **"he sealed me."**

"HE WHAT! That's impossible! The only way would be to…"

Naruto's eyes opened in shock, and he noticed that the Kyuubi wasn't looking him in the eyes anymore, but at his stomach.

With trembling arms he lifted his shirt, terrified of what he would see, and there siting around his bellybutton was the most complex seal he had ever seen.

With tears slowly running down his face he sobbed out, "He sealed you in me."

 **"Figured it out on your own?"** The Kyuubi mumbled out, completely indifferent to the turmoil that was tearing him apart **"Good, would hate to waste my time explaining it to you."**

For a second time stopped for Naruto, the cavalier attitude shattering any thoughts and feelings he was having, until they returned, replaced with fury. He turned towards the Kyuubi with raw fury, tears still streaming down his face and yelled, "WHAT!"

Turning to completely face the fox, he took a few angry steps forward, never once breaking eye contact with him before yelling out.

"Well it's not like I asked for a giant fox to be locked up in my stomach! And why did you bring me hear? To make me scared of you? Well to bad! You're in there-".

Moving so fast Naruto could barely even twitch; giant claws impaled the ground in front of Naruto, making him stumble back. Retracting his claws the Kyuubi looked at Naruto again, fury in his eyes now.

 **"Do not speak on things you do not understand boy! I am not the one that called you here! And don't you dare speak so mildly of my imprisonment! I am not the one that brought you here!"**

"Then who did!"

 **"You did you fool!"**

His eyes widening in shock Naruto whispered out,

"What?"

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked at Naruto again, this time with no humor or anger in his eyes.

 **"sorry to say kid, but you're dying."**

"DYING!"

 **"Being stabbed in the heart with a Kunai would do that to you."**

The Kyuubi's giant eyes shifted down to look at Naruto's feet. Following his eyes Naruto look down and called out in shock, slowly spreading from around him was a circle of blood red water, and it was growing.

Now sobbing into his shirt, Naruto managed to talk between sobs.

"Is this why you bright me hear?" sobbing deeply, he managed to whisper out, "to tease me before I die?"

 **"look, kid…"**

The Kyuubi mumbled out almost sounding… sorry?

After a few seconds Naruto looked up and saw The Kyuubi siting behind the bars rubbing the back of this head with his paw.

 **"Look, kid…I'm not good at this. As crazy as this might sound to you, I can help you, but you have to trust me."**

"Why should I trust you?" Naruto said before he wiped the last of his tears from his face and continued, "You've been nothing but mean to me, and why would you want to help me to begin with?"

Pausing the Kyuubi again lowered his head to talk to Naruto.

 **"A fair question, one is because if you die it would be… frustrating for me. But the other reason is that you're one of the few interesting humans, but probably the most important reason to you is that he trusts me."**

Seeing that the Kyuubi was now looking behind Naruto, he turned slowly, his eyes widening in shock.

Standing 20 feet back was a massive white fox. It looked like it was at least as tall as Naruto, with too massive tails flowing behind him, but the main thing that cot Naruto's attention was his eyes. They were such a familiar blue, they looked exactly like…

"Moshiro?"

Slowly the white fox walked up to Naruto, until he stood just within arm's reach of Naruto, and waited for him to make the next move.

Slowly Naruto reached out, never breaking eye contact with the white fox until he touched the side of his muzzle and Naruto knew, despite how different he looked, it was his best friend.

After a second Moshiro turned towards The Kyuubi giving him a small bow, which the Kyuubi returned with a polite node.

"I-I don't understand! How is he here?"

Naruto said as he turned back to the kyuubi, with Moshiro now standing at his side.

 **"That is a story for another time, for we are running out of it, will you except my help?"**

Seeing that the red circle was still growing, he looked at Moshiro who looked him in the eye and gave him one quick nod.

"OK, what do you need me to do?"

With what could almost be called a smile, The Kyubbi took several steps straight back and explained,

"You have to enter my cage, only then can I heal your injuries, and protect you from your attacker. But I must warn you, this will not be fun for you."

With one more encouraging nod from Moshiro, Naruto started to move towards the cage, stopping inches from stepping over.

"Will you promise to explain how Moshiro is here later?"

After thinking through what he said, his eyes widened and he hurriedly added,

"Unless I need to be dying to do it, I don't need to do know it that badly!"

With a chuckle and a smile The Kyubbi said,

 **"No, now that you know I am here you just have to be open to the idea of talking to me."**

Taking the last few steps into the cage, he whispered

"That easy?"

After chuckling The Kyuubi said

 **"Yes, that easy. But I have one last thing I would like to ask of you. The name of Kyuubi was forced upon me, the name I was given when I was born, is Kurama"**

"Kurama?"

With a nod, a red circle formed in the water around Kurama, so dark it was almost black. A small line of it formed and started to inch towards Naruto as it did Naruto looked him in the eye.

The Kyuubi, the most feared and hated creature in all of Konoha, a monster that could destroy mountains with a swipe of its tail and without a second thought, Naruto looked him in the eye and said words that Kurama never thought he would hear.

"Thank you Kurama…for saving me."

With a sad smile seconds before his chakra reached him Kurama said,

 **"Don't thank me yet, no matter what this will be the most painful thing you have ever felt."**

"Wait, what?"

Was all Naruto was able to get out before the chakra touched his feet, and his world turned in to pain.

Daikoku Funeno was happy. No, that's not quite right, he was ecstatic!

 _"I did it. I DID IT!"_

Was all he could think as the prone form of the container of the Kyuubi lay dying in front of him.

 _"It's kind of a shame, if he hadn't noticed the seal he would have been able to live his life, no matter how limited it would have been. But its better this then the risk he would become to Konoha"_

As he watched the fox walked over to the dying boy and put his head in the containers hand.

"Better put him out of his misery then make my way out of town. It's a shame the Hokage is too close to the kid, he couldn't see the risk."

With a sad shake of his head he pulled out another kunai and started walking towards his prone form.

"I should be seen as a hero! Maybe if the next Hokage is more reznable I can come back, might even get a medal for-"

Then he felt it, the feeling he had all those years ago, when he was hiding in his parents' house all those years ago. He was still at the academy back then and it was the last day he would see his parents as they left on patrol. The night the 4th Hokage died. The night the Kyuubi attacked.

The feeling froze him in place, as the fox ran into a bush, 9 red bands of chakra, so thick he could see them curled around the kunai imbedded in the containers chest, slowly pulling it out.

He could see the wound healing before his eyes as his body was lifted of the ground by pure demon chakra, and it was setting him back on his feet.

"No! You will die!"

He yelled out as he charged.

 _"I can still do it, stab him again, maybe cut his heart out, it was the only way to make-."_

The container's arm shot out, faster than his eyes could follow, catching his hand as he was bashed away by the container's other arm. He was hit with such force that he was thrown across the clearing into a tree, cracking the tree with his impact. His back hit it hard; he could feel a few of his ribs break as he slid to the ground.

 _"I have to stab him! Where is my kunai…"_

He saw a glint of metal near the demon, cloaked in a thin fog of red chakra.

 _"When did he grab it? I never felt it leave my hand-."_

After trying to raise his arm he realized he couldn't for one simple reason, it wasn't there anymore. With nothing but a bloody stump as a reminder that it was ever there, he found it a second later, in the clawed hand of the demon. He was cloaked in glowing red chakra, with savage claws and larger whisker marks and his eyes…bright red with slit pupils that glowed in the dark.

As it turned towards him with its glowing red eyes it charged, throwing his arm behind him and the last thought before the clawed hand found its mark.

 _"I've failed."_

* * *

An Anbu with a dog mask moved as fast as his body could carry him towards the most powerful and toxic chakra he had ever felt. He had only felt this feeling once before, and he knew what it meant, the last time he was behind a barrier to keep him and the other young ninja of Konoha safe as his teacher and the other ninja of Konoha fight the 9 tails, but this time he would help. He had a feeling that the seal was still intact, so there was still time.

He was just starting to make out the clearing he was rushing towards with his one red eye with three comas circling his pupil, the Sharingan. With this heightened perception he was able to make out both of his targets, and Daikoku Funeno was charging Naruto, who was partly cloaked in a red fog of chakra with a kunai.

 _"Still too far, will take at least three more seconds to be able to get a clean shot! Not again I won't lose someone agai-."_

If it wasn't for his Sharingan he probably wouldn't have been able to see it.

With a flash of movement Naruto's arm shot out, catching Daikoku's hand with one hand and with the other hitting his shoulder with such force it blew his arm off as it threw him into a nearby tree.

 _"Ok, so Daikoku is no longer a threat, primary goal is now to contain Naruto. Should still capture Daikoku, see what we can learn, there might be a third member of there…"_

His train of thought was cut off when Naruto charged forward, delivering a blow to Daikoku's head that turned it into paste, along with the tree behind him.

 _"So scratch that, contain and calm down or capture Naruto."_ Were his last thoughts as he landed in the clearing.

Naruto instantly turned to face him, red eyes glowing with fury as he looked at his one red eye and dropped to all fours, ready to fight.

 _"Back up is less than 30 seconds away, should focus on containment and surviving until they get here."_

As he considered a strategy a light breeze pushed past him, and he could see Naruto smelling the air. He then made eye contact and relaxed, his stance shifted into an upright position as the cloak dissolved. The last thing to change was his eyes, turning back into the blue he knew so well, before rolling into the back of his head.

As he rushed towards him, Naruto was already starting to drop to the ground, he barely got to him in time to stop him from hitting the ground when he started convulsing.

He heard two other people enter the clearing turning just enough to see them. He saw two Anbu he recognized, and one he knew as a medical nin. As she rushed over he stated,

"After the chakra cloak dissolved he collapsed and started convulsing."

As she started a diagnostic Ninjutsu the other Anbu started walking up making eye contact, he stated,

"You managed to knock him out? Impressive."

"No, the cloak dissolved on its own, no idea why but-"

His conversation was cut off when the medical Nins back stated and he heard her whisper,

"Not good, we need to get him to the Hospital. NOW."

As he picked Naruto up, and started running towards the hospital with the medical nin beside him, her hands glowing with a medical Ninjutsu on Naruto, he asked, "What's wrong?"

In a voice with barely contained panic she almost yelled out,

"What's not wrong? Almost every muscle in his extremities is on the verge of being torn from the bone, and he has an irregular heartbeat, looks like it's been damaged recently and is still recovering. But the worst is his chakra pathways; I have never seen chakra poisoning this bad, it looks like acid was forced through them! I have no idea how he's still alive and if we don't get him stabilized soon the seizures are the least of his problems!"

 _"Hang in there Naruto."_

Was all he could think as he moved towards the hospital as fast as his legs could carry him. All the while a white fox was following at a safe distance.

* * *

hope everyone enjoyed the first meting of these two, and i hope it and the next chapter flows well (the reason it took so long for it to come out)

Hard to believe i have 160 Followers! thank you so much and if you notice any mistakes (i hope i caught them all this time)

any thoughts throw me a review!


	7. Chapter 7 Secrets Revealed

_"O KAMI, WHY DOES EVERYTHING HURT!"_

Were the first thoughts that entered his head when he came to, that were then swiftly followed by a flurry of memories involving getting stabbed and meeting a very big 9 tailed fox, followed my…nothing.

 _"Well guess I'm still alive, but why does everything hurt!"_

 **"It was the only thing I could do, stop whining."**

 _"Kub- oh, Kurama?"_

He could swear he could hear the smirk in his voice.

 **"Good save there kid, and it was the pain or death, so take the pain as a price for being too weak to protect yourself and your best friend."**

 _"Fine but, where am I? And is Moshiro safe?"_

 **"WE are at the hospital if I heard everything right, and it sounds like Moshiro is at the foot of the bed resting."**

 _"But I was unconscious, how did you-"_

 **"Just because you can't use your senses doesn't mean I can't. It is exhausting though and after saving your life, AND there's the fact that I'm still healing your injuries-"**

"You're healing me! How? And why does everything hurt? And how can you talk to me in my head? And h-"

 **"ONE AT A TIME!"** Kurama yelled out and even if it was all in his head, Naruto could swear his ears were ringing.

 **"OK first, have you ever wondered how you heal so fast? Small cuts heal completely over night and broken bones in a week? That was all me. You've been unconscious all night and if you rest, LIKE YOU SHOULD you should be fine with me helping the healing."**

 _"Helping me heal?"_

 **"Yes, at safe levels my chakra can help you heal, there's always a little bit flowing through your body, that's why you heal faster than everyone else. But if I direct it, focus it where it's needed, the small cut could heal in hours, maybe even less and a broken bone in a weekend."**

 _"Cool, but why does everything hurt? I saw you give me chakra, but you said your chakra heals me?"_

 **"I said at safe levels, and nothing about the levels I gave you was safe. As you get older you'll build up a resistance and be able to handle more. But as you are now, the amount I forced into you was more of an acid to you than anything else, and your chakra pathways are so small I almost ruptured some of them with the amount I forced into you."**

 _"Then why-"_

 **"Did you forget that your teacher was trying to kill you?"**

 _"Oh… right"_

 **"You need to understand, my chakra is by its nature chaotic, and by overwhelming your system it would drive you berserk, removing a lot of your natural restrictions and driving you into a killing frenzy."**

 _"What, so you're saying I… killed him?"_

 **"Blew his head from his shoulders, and he deserved far worse."**

 _"b-b-but I didn't what to kill him! Just stop him!"_

 **"Don't you dare feel sorry for him! He deserved far worse than just death, he deserved to suffer! He would have killed you and never regretted it, he deserves none of your pity and I will not let you give him any!"**

After a few seconds of silence Naruto, thinking through what his…other foxy friend said,

 _"Ok, I get that this time it was me or him, but I don't want to kill anyone else ever again!"_

After a pause Kurama mumbled out,

 **"Foolish child, you should talk to the old man with the white hat about this."**

 _"You mean the Hokage? And don't call me foolish!"_

 **"I will call you whatever I want! And do you know any other old men with a white hat? I've answered all of your questions, now go to sleep!"**

 _"Wait! How can we talk to each other like this?"_

 **"FOOLISH LITTLE… look, I'm not just sealed in your body. Your chakra, your life essence is what makes the cage, we are connected, so just like when you were in front of the cage we can talk. Now, GO TO SLEEP!"**

Naruto could actually feel the contact cut, and with it, a wave of exhaustion hit him, and in seconds his world was swallowed by the darkness of sleep.

* * *

Slowly, feeling returned to him. The first thing he felt was how the pain had been replaced with a dull ache, and there was something very wet something nudging his face. Opening his eyes he saw a white fox with blue eyes nuzzling his face.

"Good morning Moshiro," Naruto said as he slowly lifted his hand to rest it on Moshiro.

Looking around he noticed that he was, in fact, in the hospital. He was in a small private room with one bed, chair, door and a window. If he could guess the time by the angle of the sun, he would say early morning.

"Hunh, wonder what day it is buddy?"

He asked as he sat up and Moshiro moved to sit in his lap.

Moments later the one door to his room opened, and a man walked in and said, "It would be Sunday, you slept all of yesterday, but it looks like you're making a speedy recovery, which I am very happy to see."

"Gramps!" Naruto said with a smile as he stepped into the room, sitting in the chair before turning to face Naruto fully, with a smile on this face he said,

"I'm happy to see you two finally up, how do you feel Naruto?"

"Just a bit sore, but besides that I feel fine! But how did Moshiro get in here? I didn't think they would let him in."

Chuckling to himself, Gramps looked at Moshiro and said, "When you were put in the recovery room, he managed to get in through the open window. I think the guard I placed on you has a soft spot for him."

Pointing to two small bowls, one with water and another with barley touched dog food.

"It's great to see you recovering so quickly Naruto."

"Great! That means I can go home now, right?" Naruto said as he pull out the best puppy dog eyes he could, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Moshiro giving him backup.

With a smile and a shake of his head, Gramps said,

"Not yet Naruto, I need to ask you about what you remember about Friday, just start at the beginning, and walk me through what happened."

Deep within him, he heard what was fast becoming a familiar voice.

 **"Hey kid say what you want to the old man, but don't tell him my name or about Moshiro being able to enter your inner world."**

 _"What? Why?"_

 **"He hasn't earned the right to use my name, and trust me when I say they will take him away if they find out what he did."**

Looking down at Moshiro, he realized it didn't matter if he was wrong, he wouldn't take the risk.

"Naruto?"

"Sorry! Let's see…well me and Moshiro where walking through the woods when…"

It felt nice to talk with someone about it, he asked a few questions, mainly just to make sure he got it right, at least until we got to the whole being stabbed part.

"…So I managed to stab him with the piece of stone that was in my leg, but I didn't see where the kunai was so he must have stabbed me in the chest and-"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but did you say that he stabbed you in the chest?"

"Ya, right here"

He said as pulled up his shirt and pointed where he was stabbed two days ago.

"Didn't even feel it, I just got all heavy then fell over."

He turned to Gramps to see a look of shock on his face.

"The medical nin said you were having heart palpitations caused by some injury on the way to the hospital, the doctors were unable to find it or the cause, they were guessing it was caused by chakra poisoning but they had no way to confirm."

He said as he leaned forward to get a better look at where Naruto was pointing, before continuing.

"Not even a scar…but that means." Gramps looked quickly at Naruto's stomach before sitting back to look at Naruto.

"Do you remember anything else? Maybe after you blacked out?"

 _"Wait, he knows?"_

 **"What do you think? Of course he knows! Always found it weird he never told you, given what you had to go through because of it."**

 _"Go through?"_

 **"You think most people hate on all orphans? No, almost every adult in the village knows from what I can guess. Heck, they must have kicked you out of the orphanage because of me. Cowards. There must be a law in place about not telling you, only thing that makes sense."**

 _"What! HOW COULD HE LIE TO ME?"_

"Do you?" Asked Naruto, glaring at Gramps.

"I'm sorry Naruto?" He replied.

"Do you know? I mean I was stabbed in the chest, I should be dead. Maybe Ereca sensei was right, I am a monster!" he said as angry tears started running down his face.

"You're no monster Naruto!"

"You would think I was the Kyuubi incarnate!"

Gramps flinched, visibly flinched, before he looked Naruto in the eye.

"You know," Gramps stated with a tone of resignation. It was not a question.

"The fact that I have a giant 9 tailed demon fox living in my stomach? Ya, I figured it out once I met him! What I don't know is why I've been lied to my entire life!" now barely able to see through the tears running down his face.

"At least then I would know why everyone hates me! Why there always whispering behind my back! Why I was kicked out of the orphanage for breaking a glass! Or when you moved me into an apartment, how everyone in the building moved out! And you never told me! My first friend was a fox! Kami must have had pity on me and gave a fox a fox friend!"

"ENOUGH!" The Hokage said as he stood from his seat.

Talking a deep breath he got on one knee to look Naruto in the eye before he continued.

"You are no fox, you are one of the kindest people I have ever met and if the people of Konoha can't see that then they are bigger fools then I thought. I thought not telling you would protect you, but it looks like I was wrong…"

"But I killed someone, only bad people kill."

"No Naruto, to kill should never been taken lightly, but to take another life to save another and protect yourself from death, there is nothing wrong with that."

After a pause he turned Naruto's head to look him in the eye.

"Through my life I have killed many, too many to count, to protect others, but I have accepted it, do you know why?"

After Naruto shook his head, Gramps continued.

"Because it was always to protect Konoha and the innocents that live in this world, and to be a shield for them, and when I have to, to be a sword for them. Does that make sense?"

After sniffing, he nodded, realizing it did make sense. He didn't like it, but that was ok. At least for now.

After a sad chuckle Gramps continued, resting his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You know this isn't what your dad wanted, he wanted you to be seen as a hero, the one that kept the village safe from the Kyuudi. He would be ashamed of Konoha if he knew what happened."

"Can you tell me about him?" Naruto said as he wiped away the last of his tears.

"Naruto you know I can't-"

"So just another thing I can't know?" Naruto said with a sad sigh.

After tugging on his beard for a couple of seconds, he turned towards Naruto with a cautious smile.

"How about this Naruto, I tell you what I can, but I promise you that when you become a chunin I will tell you everything I know, deal? I'll even tell you what Daikoku's plan was after that and why it's important. "

After thinking it over for a second, Kurama added in his thought.

 **"Probably the best you're going to get, might as well take it kid."**

"Better than nothing I guess." Naruto said with a smirk.

With a sad smile on this face, Gramps said,

"Seeing how you already know about your tenant, it would be for your own benefit to know... now where to begin?"

After thinking it over he looked at Naruto with a smile,

"I knew your father fairly well; he was a quiet man, but kind and always looking out for his friends. From what I remember your mother fell in love with him on a mission. She was actually a lot like you, passionate to a fault at times. She was also one of the kindest people I've ever met, but I pity anyone that got on her bad side. They were thrilled when they found out they were having you, he would have made a great father to you."

He said with a sad smile before continuing, being watched with absolute focus from Naruto,

"He loved Konoha, and I have a hard time thinking of a man that fought harder for the Will of Fire."

"What's the will of fire?" Naruto asked, scratching the side of his head in confusion, "does that mean he used fire jutsu or something?"

The look of shock was almost humorous until it was replaced with anger.

"Looks like the academy is far worse of than I thought, I'll need to take a VERY serious look at their curriculum when we're done here."

Sighing deeply as he rubbed his eyes, he looked at Naruto with a serous expression on his face.

"The Will of Fire is the idea that the entire village is like a large family and every Konoha shinobi with the Will of Fire loves, believes, cherishes, and fights to protect the village, as previous generations had done before them. It is the belief by which every Hokage has led and it is what keeps Konoha together and strong; it gives us the strength to continue fighting against all odds for what we believe in. That, Naruto, is the Will of Fire, and if there's one thing I could ever pass onto you for your father, then it would be that."

"Wow, I've… I've never heard of that before," he said as he rubbed his head deep in thought before turning back with a smile.

"Thanks for telling me, but you said he was on a mission when mom… started liking him. But that means he was a Ninja! What did he do! Did he have a super cool move?"

"That, I am sorry to say Naruto, is not something I can tell you. But I can tell you that he had quite a gift with seals."

"Really?"

"Really, but I think I have told you everything I can now, so how about you finish telling your story? How about you start when you met the Kyuubi?"

"Ok, so I woke up in this weird sewer with this huge gate in it…"

It didn't take long to finish the story with some choice details left out.

"…and then the chakra touched me and the next thing I know I'm in a hospital, and I think that's everything."

"That's quite an eventful Friday you've had."

Gramps said as he was leaning back in the chair, tugging on his beard.

"It's good that the Kyuubi helped you this time, but you must understand, the Kyuubi will do everything in its power to get you to weaken the seal and get out. You must never let that happen, for it will not only kill you, it will release the 9 tails and there is no reason to assume he will not continue his attack on Konoha."

 **"Pff, I have no reason to attack Konoha, if it wasn't for that damn red eyed man with a white mask I never would have gone there to begin with."**

"Red eyed man?"

Realizing he said it out loud he covered his mouth, but by the look on Gramps face, he heard everything.

"Red eyed man? Can you talk with the Kyuubi even when you're not in front of his cage?"

"Maybe?" Naruto said sheepishly, "look, it's just talking and he's giving pretty good advice! Please don't get angry!"

Rubbing his temples again, Gramps let out a sigh before saying,

"I'm not angry Naruto, but you need to tell me these things. Why don't you ask him what he meant while I check your seal. Pull your shirt up, please."

 **"I can hear you, you old fart!"** Kurama yelled out as Naruto lifted his shirt for Gramps.

"Naruto, could you please focus some chakra into the seal"

 _"Uuuu, Kurama, how do I do that?"_

 **"Fine, I'LL DO IT, but just because you clearly can't!"**

"I can! I just don't know how…"

Naruto could literally feel the Kurama's laughter as a warm feeling spread to his stomach and an incredibly intricate seal materialized on his stomach. With a large sphere around his bellybutton as a base, two semi separate seals on the top and bottom that circled the top and bottom of the base seal that extended into four finger extensions away from the center. To put it simply it was by far the most complex seal Naruto had ever seen.

 _"This must only be the surface of it; it must function mainly for diagnostics and it looks like you can change its strength as a filter. The filter must be referring to the amount of Kurama's chakra that is allowed to flow"_ Naruto thought to himself as Gramps inspected the seal.

"Well I don't see any problems with it even with what happened this Friday."

Gramps said before he looked up at Naruto with a twinkle in his eye, "It is interesting to note that the Kyuubi can hear me and is willing to help you. Most interesting."

With a start, Kurama's laughter abruptly stopped,

 **"WHAT!"**

"You knew I couldn't channel chakra?" Naruto said as a very angry fox was ranting and raving just below the surface.

"Of course, they teach it at the academy at the end of first year, still a few months away. I just wanted to see what your companion would do, and have to say, I am unexpectedly impressed. Now why don't you tell me what he said about the man with red eyes?"

"He, uh, didn't say much, just that he never would have attacked if it wasn't for the red eyed man with a white mask."

"Red eyed, are you sure he used those words exactly?"

"Ya, why?"

"Nothing for you to worry about Naruto, now I think it's about time I tell you about Daikoku Funeno was planning?"

Naruto knew when someone was trying to change the subject on him, but to be fair, he didn't care that much about the red eyed man with a white mask.

"Sure, I mean I kind of figured out he wanted to kill me, but why didn't he do it earlier?"

"That was only his back up unfortunately, his original plan… are you sure you want to know about this part?"

With a nod of Naruto's head, Gramps continued after taking a deep calming breath.

"You see he was not working alone, he had help from a teacher at the academy, Suzume."

"Suzume! You mean the teacher that focuses on girl ninja stuff?"

"Yes, you see years ago she was taught by my pupil, Jiraiya the Toad Sage the seal master and the one that made the seal book you're working through."

After nervously laughing and rubbing the back of his head Naruto said, "You…know about the book?"

With a twinkle in his eyes, Gramps said, "Naruto, there are very few things of note that I don't know about that happen in Konoha. I am quite alright with you having the book, as long as the next time you see me you bring back the ones you're not using."

Naruto started rubbing the back of his head before sheepishly responding, "Thanks gramps, I just managed to open up the second chapter, got to say, it felt a bit easy."

Eyes widening for a second gramps said, "already on the second chapter? You are your father's son." Before continuing,

"You see she was quit good back in the day, especially at mixing medical techniques into seals, but apparently gave it up after becoming a teacher. But it appears she was still keeping her skills sharp. Do you remember when you mentioned the seal under your chair?"

After Naruto nodded he continued, "I had someone search the bottom of all of the chairs in your class, yours was the only one with a seal on it, now perfectly intact, I was able to discern its purpose and… to put it simply, the early years of a person's life are vital when it comes to the development of chakra pathways, especially when it comes to the brain. What the seal was meant to do was disrupt chakra growth to over time, finally damaging them permanently. Especially when it comes to intelligence and fine chakra control of the victim of the seal."

Growing pale, Naruto said, "So you saying that it was…"

Nodding sadly, Gramps responded, "They where subtly crippling you."

Now panicking, Naruto, almost yelling said, "Is it too late! Can it be treated?"

"If it had been allowed to continue for the rest of the year, no. but with it stopped this early I have been assured you will be fine. I have no idea why the seal exploded, but if I was not made aware there would be no way for anyone to detect what had been done."

 **"You're welcome kid."**

 _"You did it?"_

 **"Of course, it was easy. I could feel what the seal was doing to you, and after you saved Moshiro's life, I figured a life for a life was a fair trade and all I had to do was shoot a bit of my chakra through the chair into the seal. Don't make a big deal out of it.**

 _"Thank you, I don't even…thank you."_

 **"Don't mention it kid. Or do, I don't care"**

"It was the Kyubbi, he was what set it off."

Pausing, gramps looked at Naruto in surprise.

"Really? Well that will give me much to think on." He said as he leaned back in thought.

"But it's ok now, with Daikoku gone, and I'm guessing you have Suzume, so that's everyone right?" Naruto said with a smile.

Leaning forward, gramps shook his head,

"Unfortunately not Naruto, we were unable to complete the interrogation of Suzume, but we believe there is at least one more person who is at the school with contacts outside of Konoha to get the supplies needed for the seal, which would not be easy to obtain and neither of them had those sorts of contacts. That is actually why I have told you all of this. You see we read through Suzume's notes on the seal and she had no way of knowing how long it would take for the seal to work. We can fake them leaving the village together, but we have no way of knowing who the others are, so we must make it look like they succeeded."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Until you become Genin and graduate the academy I need you to fake bad grades in school."

"But, can't you just graduate me now?"

"I would if I could, but there are… outside considerations that would prevent me from doing it."

"But you're the Hokage!" Naruto said, now getting frustrated.

Yes, but trust me when I say several clans and other prominent people would take some form of action if I acted and as they are now, it would not end well."

"Well this sucks! I have to do badly until I graduate!"

"You can consider this a B ranked mission that will be put on your record when you're put on a team, and you'll be able to make more friends at the academy with the people you will be grouped with."

Seeing how this was not helping Naruto, the Hokage decided to try something else.

"How about this Naruto, I will do you one favour that is within my power, and do not worry about Moshiro, I have found a solution to that."

"What is it?" Naruto asked happily.

"What do you know of the Inuzuka Clan Naruto?"

"They fight with ninja dogs and smell like wet dogs."

Gramps laughed before responding, "that might be true, but don't let them hear you say that! But how this becomes important is within the rules of Konoha there is a law put in place for the Inuzuka clan that lets their pets be considered ninjas of Konoha, with all the protections that entails. But the important thing is that the race for this law is not set, so a fox would be well within the power of the law."

"And that will protect Moshiro?"

"Trust me that I will spread the word on Monday and no one would be foolish enough do act against you or him."

Pulling out a small scroll that was hidden in his robe, and a small vial of ink, Gramps unrolled the scroll. On the scroll there were two spaces at the bottom, one for an official signature, already signed by Gramps, and an empty space for a paw print and a name of the beast and the handler.

With a paw print from Moshiro and Naruto filling out both spots, gramps wrapped up the document.

"I will make sure this is filed today, now have you thought at all about the favor?

Happy that the Moshiro problem had been solved, he was thinking it over when Moshiro's words came back to him, 'You couldn't even protect one fox, never mind yourself' and that gave him an idea.

Speaking slowly to make sure he didn't miss mispronounce anything, he asked Gramps,

"Well seeing how I have to basically fail all classes I won't be able to properly push myself, and seeing how I'm still in some danger... If I could get personal training from some ninjas you trust, that's what I would like."

It felt like forever as Gramps thought it over, but eventually, a smile crossed his face.

"You know Naruto; I think that's an excellent idea. It won't be easy but I can definitely make this worth your while."

After shaking his head with a smile he said, "All you have to do is not draw attention to yourself."

* * *

Well...let's see how well that goes!

so this is the end of the arc, the next chapter will be skipping ahead to the time line we all know so well. There will be a few flash backs to what happened during that time, and some characters might show up earlier then expected, you'll haft to wait and see.

I hope this filled in any questions people might have had, the shadowy figure a few chapters back was in fact the Hokage, not Danzo.

it might take a while for the next chapter to come out but i'm not a person to leave a project unfinished, so it might take time, but I wont stop working!

any questions or mistakes let me know,

By guys!


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